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Still Have an Appetite for Hay?

Many thought I was a complete idiot for spending so much money to do chores on a farm.

Wrote one incredulous person: “Consumerist, confused, and almost craaaaazzzy. Paying extra to pull vegetables? My god.”

But others, sensing a sucker perhaps, invited me to come visit their backyard gardens and their farms and work for free.

One reader suggested I find a farm to work on through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. “The accommodations differ from farm to farm but it is possible to find something at least as comfortable as the tents described in the article,” the reader wrote in an email.

The fine folks at Flying Pigs Farm in Upstate New York offer an opportunity for food professionals to go to a series of weekend farm camps in the Batten Kill valley. For a mere $150 (thanks in part to a grant by the New York State Department of Agriculture), campers will get lessons, lodging and the chance to drink wine around a fire.

The agenda looks ambitious and delicious. Among the many things a camper might learn: what to look for in a good heritage breed pig, what makes goat cheese taste like goat cheese, what makes a good pasture and the finances of farming.

It’s open to food professionals, which is loosely defined as chefs, waiters, restaurant owners, food writers and others.

Last, my cousin Paul Fish, who has a small farm near Duluth, Minn., sent a personal invitation:

“Cousin — In a few weeks we will be butchering pigs. We can afford to do this
because of our day jobs. You can come help for free and sleep in a house with
cable, drink wine and eat home-cooked food.”

As a farmer, I was very troubled by this article. It’s exactly the image and trend that organic farming needs to combat: trendy, privileged, and precious.

My first thought when the farm caretaker said she made SEVEN times what she made raising food was what a sad commentary on the state of our food systems. So now to be successful and have a decent living themselves, these farmers have to invite a middle man in to claim seventy percent of the profit, get coffee makers and pizza ovens, and add EVEN MORE WORK to the already long list of farm chores. That’s so unjust, I don’t even know where to start. Wake me up when it ceases to be about wealthy people’s privileged entertainment.

WWOOFing is fabulous. It’s a humble, genuine way of connecting people with work. Haycations are the antithesis of what re-connecting people with farmwork is supposed to be. I’m all for getting people re-connected with land and food, but hope this precious trend doesn’t take hold for long.